Don't mind this harmless little story. It sets the scene for various spaceship-bound stories to come; "Wheel in Space", "ark in Space" "Nightmare of Eden", "Four To Doomsday" etc. The sets are quite innovative here and actually look a lot bigger than they actually are, the jungle complete with elephant, reptiles, birds and naked women (Sorry Goldby, that scene came in AFTER you switched off). The Monoids with their Beatlesque haircut and one eye are actually quite scary and would no doubt have given the kiddies a bit of a shock. The story itself is also quite innovative to the point where you wonder if the writer had run out of ideas by the end of episode 2, then decided to have a crack at rewriting it from scratch again which provided the narrative for episodes 3 and 4.

Speaking of which; the cliffhanger for episode 2 where the statue is completed showing a Monoid head on top of a human body is probably one of the best cliffhangers the series has had for yonks. Sadly, its the human characters that let the story down. All are carved from standard stock; noble but old fashioned captain, rebellious second in command, spunky female who is the daughter of the captain, and some other guy who is the "voice of reason". If you think these characters are dull, try the humans in episodes 3 and 4!! They are even more dull and serve no purpose than topping up the equity card. Oh, and Dodo the Dildo is introduced here (sort of). God she's shite.6 outta 10. Big concepts and ideas. Idiot humans.

Long

On paper it's probably one of the least memorable of the series - but as it turns out, it's the second best episode that we have left of the series! It's an interesting story as when it all seems to be resolved, it all starts again! I guess there are some similarities between this and "The End of the World" - with a ship escaping earth just before it's about to come to it's natural end… thankfully Cassandra wasn't on board here though! The first two parts dealing with the effects of Dodo's cold are kind of fun and work well… but the second two parts were a bit all over the shop… something to do with an invisible alien from the planet they're going to settle saving the day or something… the second half really felt like it was tacked on…